The Tower of Babel – Shop of the Day No.60 We are staying in Soho all week and why not it’s nearly the weekend! Is there a more iconic Soho stalwart than this? One that almost defines an area? The coffee shop that predated all other coffee shops, located on Frith Street in Soho Central […]

You’d think that the opportunity to travel around Italy at the Museum’s expense, hunting for priceless late Medieval and Renaissance treasures to send back to South Kensington, would have been considered by a nineteenth-century curator as one of the perks of the job. Not so with Richard Redgrave. Redgrave was a painter and arts administrator; […]

Part of my job here at the V&A’s research department, besides working as a research assistant on the exhibitions “The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945-2014” and “Shoes: pleasure and pain”; is to promote and undertake new research as well as to engage with audiences and colleagues from across the world. One of the ways of […]

The Glamour of Italian Fashion demonstrates the amazing scope of work created by a variety of designers over several decades. One of the very special parts of this exhibition is the opportunity to see some of the “behind the scenes” workings of the fashion houses – print samples, fashion sketches and videos all give an […]

As the Research Department Administrator it is not often that I get the opportunity to delve into the depths of the V&A stores but I recently had the chance to do just that in the old Textiles and Fashion stores. Lucia Savi and Luisa Coscarelli, the Research Assistant and Intern on the Glamour of Italian […]

‘The Glamour of Italian Fashion 1945-2014’ exhibition does not only present beautiful Italian ready-to-wear and couture fashion designs and accessories, but also includes a staple of Italian vehicle design – the Vespa. This mint-green two-wheeler is featured in the room entitled ‘Hollywood on the Tiber’, presenting the spectacular outfits of the 50s and 60s, which […]

The Peek-a-Boo evening dress, so called because of its revealing cut out feature and provocatively low neckline, was designed by Tom Ford for Gucci’s Autumn/Winter 2004/5 collection, Ford’s last collection for Gucci. The dress is made of white silk jersey and gathers the plunging neckline with the help of a round ornament with two dragon’s […]

This shoe (T.143-1983) was made by Magli in cream patent leather with a polyurethane (ester) heel. The sole of the heel had become brittle and had broken into pieces. A tracing of the shape of the sole was taken to help fit the pieces together. Luckily most of the sole remained! A strong adhesive was […]

The stylish companion, the essential arm candy and the only accessory to be seen with when visiting this stunning V&A exhibition The Glamour of Italian Fashion Since 1945. This lavish book provides a comprehensive look at Italian fashion from the end of the Second World War to the present day. If you haven’t yet been […]

This large sheet of paper, 1.5 m long, is called a pitch sheet. Pitch sheets – or carta prova as they are called in Italian – are a medium of communication between the textile designer and textile manufacturer. The sheet will show the full repeat of a textile design and capture all the colours that […]